American Studies
Instructor: Dr. Jean Kadel
Phone: (630)907-5486
Email: jkadel@imsa.edu
Office Hours:
Course Description
This is a year-long survey course from the founding of American colonies to the present. You
may be surprised at the emphasis on writing here. In fact, two thirds of what you will learn is
“transferable skill” like reading for meaning and constructing arguments with evidence. The
historical issues that we examine are vehicles for learning these skills…. and to build an
intellectual basis for American citizenship. This syllabus is our “contract” for the year.
Reading List
Gary Nash, American Odyssey: The United States in the Twentieth Century
Mike Tidwell, Bayou Farewell
Ver Steeg & Hofstadter Great Issues in American History, Vols. 1 and 3
Clay Skinner, IMSA Social Science Style Manual
ABC-Clio assigned articles
Assigned primary documents
Course Objectives/Outcomes
This course will enable students to:
 Analyze the close relationship between geography, environment, and other physical factors
on the development of human cultures and political systems;
 Examine the importance of material forces—production, distribution, consumption—as
forces in human affairs;
 Examine the nature of political and economic power, its sources and justification, and its
relationship to dominant ideologies;
 Trace the development of the elements of continuity that bind societies together over time
and identify significant changes that interrupt that continuity;
 Locate and evaluate data and primary sources in both printed and electronic media;
 Develop critical reading, writing, and speaking skills (known in the IMSA History
Department as “Pithy Erudition”).
Keys to Success
There are major differences between this course and history courses you my have previously
taken. There are no daily assignments or study guide pages to fill out. While we start out slowly
with shorter papers, they get progressively longer and more analytical as the year progresses. It is
extremely important to do the work as assigned, ask questions in class, and see me as soon as
you have a problem.
1) Do not procrastinate the reading and the written work! Begin as early as possible rather
than the weekend (or worse, the night) before. Keep up with assigned reading. Participate
regularly in class discussions. Evidence that you are reading and thinking about the material
must obviously come through in exams and papers as well.
2) Don't fail to ask questions in class, or seek individual help outside of class! There is no
formal "extra credit," but constructively speaking up in class can help raise your grade if it is
border line. Please do not come for “re-instruction” after most of a unit or term is over without
having asked questions earlier in class. I am happy to meet with students, but only if they show a
willingness to bring questions to the table. “I don’t understand anything” 48 hours before a paper
or test is due won’t help you be successful. Do your part as a student!
3) Complete all work, on time. Respond to my interims about late work! It is really difficult
to mess up in this class, but one of the quickest ways to do this is to fail to hand in papers or hand
them in so late that the penalties kill the grade. Failure to hand in a paper does not simply
result in a D for the assignment if not produced at some point in the semester, but a failing
grade for that semester. Retaking a semester of American Studies in the junior year is very
difficult.
Papers and assignments are to be handed in as a paper hard copy in class or at a time/place
specified on the prompt. Major papers must be submitted to turnitin.com as well (the same day
by 11 PM).
Late Work
If you must be late with a paper without an approved extension, let me know. I will always send
out an interim if you miss a paper deadline with no prior explanation. At a minimum, you must
respond to this interim in a timely way—tell me why you are late. Remember, if I never hear
from you about an absent paper, and it remains absent by the end of class time for that
semester, you will fail that semester. Be particularly careful to get the last paper of a semester
in on time; there is usually less time for the “late clock” to run.
Under no circumstances will I accept a paper past the school-wide cut off date/time for handing
in work at the end of a semester. This is usually 3 PM or midnight, two-three days following the
end of the last class.
Save Yourself…
Please obtain a flash drive, memory stick, or whatever outside storage device you prefer, and
SAVE your work as you write it to this external device. Sooner or later your laptop will crash
(particularly if you are over-loading it with games or other non-academic stuff). Without saving
everything you write AS YOU WRITE IT to a flash drive, you will lose data. Don’t depend on
saving to your hard drive. Students lose work all the time this way. I can’t allow students who
lose pages or papers extra time to replace lost work without a time penalty. If you take notes on
your tablet/laptop, this applies as well.
Keep these rules in mind at all times:
1) Policy on late work with no pre-arranged extension: a half grade is deducted for every 24 hour
period late past the due date/time. This includes weekends and holidays.
2) Sleeping in class, off-task with lap top, working on other work during class: will be marked as
an unexcused absence for the day, if repeated after one warning.
Be advised that according to the IMSA Student Handbook, 4 unexcused absences will drop
you failing from a course. You will then have to take that semester of the course again next
year.
Schedule of Topics and Assignments
Documents are in Ver Steeg & Hofstadter, Great Issues in American History Vols. 1/3, the
course file, or on Internet Modern History Sourcebook.
Quarter Three, 1876-1941
Modernizing America, 1876-1920
Week One: Jan. 14-18 Paper Five assigned: Custer, Coal Mines, and the Pursuit of
Happiness (6 pages, plus endnotes). The West and the Transformation of American Industry.
Nash, 194-211. Dawes Severalty Act, 1889, Andrew Carnegie, Wealth; Progress of American
Industry chart.
Paper One
Students will write a 6 page essay evaluating the good or the bad of the Laissez-Faire Era.
SSLs and Outcomes:
Trace the development of the elements of continuity that bind societies together over time and
identify significant changes that interrupt that continuity. [SSL-I.C, D, II. A, B, III. A, IL-18.
A.5; AHA-1.A, 1.B, 1.F, 3.F, 3.G, 3.E]. Express both written and oral opinions clearly and
elegantly and defend them with the use of primary evidence by writing papers that defend a
given position or argument with the use of primary evidence [SSL-I.B, II.A, B, III.A, B, C, IV.B,
V.B; IL-18.B.5; AHA-4.A, 4.B, 4.C, 4.B] Analyze the importance of material forces of
production, distribution, and consumption as forces in human affairs by exploring how changes
in the means of production from handicraft to industry, transform other aspects of a given society
[SSL-I.C, D, II.A, B, III.B, IV.A; IL-14.F.5; AHA-3.E, I.F]
Week Two: Jan. 22-25 The Plight of the Workers. Nash, 212-217; Lincoln Steffens, The Shame
of the Cities.
Week Three: Jan. 28-Feb. 1 Progressive Reform. Nash, 232-257; Henry Demarest Lloyd,
Wealth Against Commonwealth, 1894; William Graham Sumner, The Absurd Effort to make the
World Over, 1894. Peer edit on first half of Custer, Coal Mines paper
Week Four: Feb.4-Feb. 8 Jane Addams, Florence Kelly, and Alice Paul: Female Reformers
and the Vote. Film, Iron-Jawed Angels. Nash, 258-261
America as World Power 1920-1941
Week Five: Feb.11-Feb.15 Custer, Coal Mines, and the Pursuit of Happiness due, Feb. 11,
5 PM. Iron-Jawed Angels, conclusion; discussion on woman’s suffrage. Spanish-American
War, Nash 218-223, William McKinley’s War Message. Sixth paper assigned, The Devine
Comedy: TR, FDR, John Locke, John Winthrop, and Adam Smith (6 pages plus endnotes; play).
Paper Two
Students will write a six page single-spaced paper as a play script (with end notes) in which John
Locke, Adam Smith, and John Winthrop discuss the careers of Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt.
SSLs and Outcomes:
Students studying history and social science at IMSA analyze the importance of material forces
of production, distribution, and consumption as forces in human affairs by transforming other
aspects of society. [SSL-I.C, D, II.A, B, III.B, IV.A; IL-14.F.5; AHA-3.E, I.F]; and express both
written and oral opinions clearly and elegantly and defend them with the use of primary evidence
by writing papers that defend a given position or argument with the use of primary evidence.
[SSL-I.B, II.A, B, III.A, B, C, IV.B, V.B; IL-18.B.5; AHA-4.A, 4.B, 4.C, 4.B] Evaluate the
relationship between individual behavior and social expectations by Americans' desire for
individuality and personal rights and society's requirements for individual and community
responsibilities. [SSL- I.C, D; II .A, B; III.B, IV. A, V, A, B; IL-14.A5; AHA-3.E, 5.C, 5.A,5.D,
5.E]
Week Six: Feb. 19-Feb. 22 WWI. Nash, 304-328. Woodrow Wilson, Declaration of War, 1917
Week Seven: Feb.25-March 1 The Twenties Roar. Nash, 353-368; Herbert Hoover, Rugged
Individualism, 1928.
Week Eight: March 4-March 8 The Crash, Nash, 418-436
Week Nine: March 11- March 15 The New Deal, Nash, 450-468, Franklin Roosevelt First
Inaugural address
Quarter Four, 1941-2012
WWII, the Cold War, and the Rise of the Liberal Consensus, 1941-1980
Week Ten: March 18-March 22 Roosevelt’s second term. Nash, 468-482. Walter P. Reuther
and the UAW, 1937. Peer edit on first half of A Tale of Two Roosevelts play paper. Mark
Tidwell, Bayou Farewell assigned (first two classes).
Spring Break, March 25-29
Week Eleven: April 2-April 5 Divine Comedy play paper due, April 2, 5 PM. “The Good
War,” Band of Brothers sements. Nash, 500-533. Paul Fussel, Uneasy Company. Third paper
assigned: The Greatest Generation
Paper Three
Tom Brokaw has referred to the men and women who experienced World War II as “The
Greatest Generation.” Were they the “greatest” or just the unluckiest?
SSLs and Outcomes:
Students studying history and social science at IMSA evaluate the roles of different groups in the
political institutions and social fabric of multicultural societies over time by assessing how
different political systems include, exclude, and ignore minority groups in different periods of
history [IL-16.C.5.B, AHA-2.C, 3.E, 3.G] and identifying the strategies used by different groups
to gain a voice in the political process. [SSL-I.B, C, D, II.A, B, III.B, IV.A, C, D, V.A; IL14.C.5, E.5; AHA-3.G, 3.H, 5.D, 5.E, 5.F] Students studying history and social science at IMSA
examine the nature of political or economic power, its sources and its justification, and its
relationship to dominant ideologies by exploring the relationship between the ideas that justify
political power and the concrete forces that create political power [SSL-I.B, D, II.B, III.B, IV.A,
C; IL-14. B.5; AHA-3.E, 3.I]; Students analyze the importance of material forces production,
distribution, consumption as forces in human affairs by assessing the role of material
considerations in determining diplomatic or military policy. [SSL-I.C, D, II.A, B, III.B, IV.A,
V.B; IL-14.E.5]
Week Twelve: April 8-April 12 The Cold War: Confrontation or Misunderstanding? Nash,
562-593 George Kennan, The Sources of Soviet Conduct, 1947; Eisenhower, Remarks on
Peaceful Co-Existence, 1954.
Week Thirteen: April 15-April 19 The Whole World is Watching. Nash 596-629; Johnson’s
speech on Voting Rights, 1965; Report of the Commission on Civil Disorder, 1968; Jefferson
Airplane song lyrics. Film clip: Chicago, 1968. Mark Tidwell, Bayou Farewell assigned
(second two sections); peer edit of first half of The Greatest Generation paper Friday, April 19.
Week Fourteen: April 22-April 26 The Greatest Generation paper due, April 22 by 5 PM.
High Tide of Liberalism/Exhaustion--the 1970’s. Nash, 324-343; Declaration of Environmental
Rights, 1970. 8-10 page research paper on a topic from WWII to the present assigned.
Paper Four, Research Paper
Students will choose a topic of interest and trace its development in the post-WWII to present era
in an 8-10 page, double-spaced paper with end notes.
SSLs and Outcomes:
Students express both written and oral opinions clearly and elegantly and defend them with the
use of primary evidence by writing papers that defend a given position or argument with the use
of primary evidence. [SSL-I.B, II.A, B, III.A, B, C, IV.B, V.B; IL-18.B.5; AHA-4.A, 4.B, 4.C,
4.B] Students evaluate data and primary sources in both printed and electronic media by
developing facility with the resources of a research library [SSL-I.C, D, III.A, IV.A; IL-17.A.5;
AHA-2.E, 2.F, 2.G, 4.B, 4.C] and displaying the ability to use printed and electronic sources in
their arguments while crediting those sources appropriately. [SSL- I.C, D, III.A, IV.A; IL16.A.5.A; AHA-4.C] D.
The Reagan Revolution, New Challenges 1980-2012
Week Fifteen: April 29-May1 Reagan, Russia and the New World Order. Nash 856-887.
Week Sixteen: May 6-May 10 Laissez-faire and the Southern Strategy. Nash, 856-887
Week Seventeen: May 13-May 17 9-11, Iraq/Afghanistan, the Second Great Depression, 2008.
Tidwell, Bayou Farewell discussion, quiz (all sections).
Week Eighteen: May 20-May 24 Katrina, BP Gulf disaster; union-stripping, voter suppression,
and the election of 2012. Current news analysis, research paper due May 24 by 5 PM.